Return Air Tickets, Stay at Shangri La Eros, a Car at our disposal and Camera’s around us, Yes we were the Heroes of the Event when Godrej Cinthol decided to let us take on Virat in a face off at Talkatora Stadium in Newdelhi on 7th Aug.

It was a fun filled afternoon while Virat relished the Challenge with 5 Awesome Challengers ( Sarath, Vineet, Adarsh, Prathamesh and myself Prabhu ) selected from Twitter, 1 Wild card Ankit from the gathered audience and MTV Roadies Season 8 Finalist Pooja. We did have a surprise young challenger Kanav who beat Virat on a mini penalty shootout challenge. Of Course Virat was kind to the little kid by taking it as slow as possible. Screams of Virat “I love you” greeted the Awesome Star while he rocked the Arena.

Sarath challenged Virat to hit 6 different balls into the stands, Virat sent 3 into the stands. Vineet asked Virat to hit one bounce four and he did hit 3 and Vineet did bowl Virat once. Prathamesh walked in with a baseball bat challenging to hit a six off it while both Virat and Prathamesh couldn’t and ended on a tie. Adarsh wanted to kick a football to the stumps and Virat showed his accuracy skills to beat him, Wild Card Ankit challenged to hit into the Stands and Virat lofted two of them quite easily, and finally MTV Roadies Season 8 Finalist Pooja Bannerjee challenged to bring down 50 bowling pins with 6 balls.

Every Challenge was fun as Virat made it look simple and showed why he is Awesome. The Best part was to see Virat in a jovial mood replying “Naan Unnai Kadhalikiren” to Sarath when he talked in Tamil meaning “I love you”, Saying “Sorry Coach” to the Host, trying to distract Adarsh during his football challenge and speaking about bowling challenge to his fans that he has the most funny bowling action and doesn’t bowl well. Yes Virat was at his Playful Best giving a visual treat to everyone gathered giving us Alive moments through his presence.

I knew Virat could hit them big quite easily and had challenged to hit the stumps at Non Strikers End. Decided to keep it short not to let Virat drive them easily and did manage to ensure Virat doesnt beat me. It was fun as Virat imitated my spinning action and called me Ashwin. May be the Yellow Tee did the trick for me!!. When it was my turn to face Virat, all I could do was to get one very very close that Virat pointed to stumps with his fingers and said that was very close. We had one super ball each to see if someone could break the tie, but again none of us could do it. Finally Virat declared me as a winner as I had been very close. It was a dream moment to bowl a few balls to Virat and of course face him too. Also, this trip did give me a chance to Catch up with twitter Pals Pawan and Jatin

Virat who enjoys facing challenges in Life briefed why he decided to associate with Cinthol as he relates well to their Tagline “Alive is Awesome” and seemed to enjoy every minute of the #ChallengeVirat event as it was a different game altogether.

It was more than a Dream to play and have fun with an Awesome Cricketer at this level and each one of us who got a chance to #ChallengeVirat will relish these memories for life. These are things which money can’t buy and we got to thank Godrej Cinthol Team, Creative Land for a Unique and Creative Campaign. Kudos to everyone who were behind the Perfect planning and Execution of the Fantastic Event.

After the event, it was extra special to meet Virat in Person for a minute where I handed over the Photo Magnets and Baggage Tag Gifts I had made for him. Also got an autograph for Chirag Makwana on his picture collage in order to surprise him on his wedding. Another awesome Fan of Virat, Dileep had sent a collage for Autograph with Just Virat Blog Page, and other fan pages he manages including @viratgang, and after having a look, Virat asked “Can I keep it?”, Sure a special moment for the fan and I hope he gets to meet his star soon. I could not manage autographs for all the fans who requested, but you guys will have your day too.

Sure Cinthol has more to come and all Virat fans must keep a close watch at Godrej Cinthol‘s Social Media – Twitter, Facebook, Instagram You never know, “Alive is Awesome” and it may be YOU someday.